Classical Greek Online

Lesson 9

Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum

Aristotle was born in Macedonia in 384 BC. In 367 BC he went to Athens to study with Plato. Plato had a high regard for him, calling him the "intellect of his school." He stayed in Athens until the death of Plato in 347 BC, and after several residences elsewhere he was invited in 342 BC by Philip of Macedonia to instruct his son, Alexander, who was then 13. In 335 BC Aristotle returned to Athens where the state gave him the Lyceum. In the walks surrounding it he gave lectures on philosophy to many scholars while walking up and down, for which the school was named Peripatetic. He remained head of the school until 323 BC, when he left Athens for Euboea, where he died in 322 BC. His treatises and lectures on philosophy have always been highly regarded.

Reading and Textual Analysis

The Poetics is the last work of Aristotle. It is not as widely cited as his Metaphysics, nor his Nicomachean Ethics, but was selected here to illustrate his interest also in the arts. He is considered to be the first literary critic. For him, the arts represent essential truths apprehended by the mind. He proceeds to analyze works of literature, as for their style and for the construction of their plot. Style of poetry is to be judged by the employment of meter and selection of vocabulary. For a plot, unity is essential, and among other things the type of hero. In his first sentence Aristotle states the aim for the treatise as depicting the essence of poetry, its various types, and the requirements for successful plots. Among the types are epic poetry, tragedy and comedy, and dithyrambic poetry as well as most flute- and harp-playing. For all of these he demands mimesis, or imitation of life. And he accounts for interest in them because humans have an instinct for representation and because they enjoy representations. The Poetics is relatively short, but also very compact, as the selection here illustrates. The selection below is from book IV: 22-26.

Translation

The plot is truly the first principle and so to say the soul of tragedy; and the second is character. It is the same also in painting. For if someone painted with the best colors at random, it would not delight as much as painting an image in white on a black background. For it is a representation of action in actual life, and because of that most of all of those in action.

The third element is thought. This is the ability to say what is possible and what is fitting. It is provided in the words and the activities of the statesman and of the rhetorician. For the old writers made the characters speak like statesmen and the new writers like rhetoricians.

Now character is that which reveals choice, i.e. what sort of thing one chooses or avoids among those where it is not clear. So those have no character in the words, in which it is not wholly clear what the speaker chooses or avoids.

The fourth of the elements in the literary items is style. And I mean, as has been said earlier, that style is the means of interpretation through meaning. And this has the same force for poetry and prose.

Grammar

41 Verbs in -μι; the present and imperfect active system.

A small number of frequent verbs have different endings and formations from those of the general
verbs. Among these are τίθημι 'put', ἵημι 'send', ἵστημι, and δίδωμι 'give'. The
present forms of τίθημι are given here to illustrate their forms. The forms of the others are
comparable, though δίδωμι has ο-vowels corresponding to the ε-vowels of the three other verbs.

Present

Imperfect

1 sg

τίθημι

ἐτίθην

2 sg

τίθης

ἐτίθεις

3 sg

τίθησι(ν)

ἐτίθει

1 pl

τίθεμεν

ἐτίθεμεν

2 pl

τίθετε

ἐτίθετε

3 pl

τιθέασι(ν)

ἐτίθεσαν

Subjunctive

Optative

Imperative

1 sg

τιθῶ

τιθείην

2 sg

τιθῇς

τιθείης

τίθει

3 sg

τιθῇ

τιθείη

τιθέτω

1 pl

τιθῶμεν

τιθεῖμεν

2 pl

τιθῆτε

τιθεῖτε

τίθετε

3 pl

τιθῶσι(ν)

τιθεῖεν

τιθέντων

42 Forms of the aorist active.

Indicative

Subjunctive

Optative

Imperative

1 sg

ἔθηκα

θῶ

θείην

2 sg

ἔθηκας

θῇς

θείης

θές

3 sg

ἔθηκε(ν)

θῇ

θείη

θέτω

1 pl

ἔθεμεν

θῶμεν

θεῖμεν

2 pl

ἔθετε

θῆτε

θεῖητε

θέτε

3 pl

ἔθεσαν

θῶσι(ν)

θεῖεν

θέντων

43 Forms of the Present and Imperfect system of εἰμί 'am'.

Present

Imperfect

1 sg

εἰμί

ἦν

2 sg

εἶ

ἦσθα

3 sg

ἐστί(ν)

ἦν

1 pl

ἐσμέν

ἦμεν

2 pl

ἐστέ

ἦτε

3 pl

εἰσί(ν)

ἦσαν

Subjunctive

Optative

Imperative

1 sg

ὦ

εἴην

2 sg

ᾖς

εἴης

ἴσθι

3 sg

ᾖ

εἴη

ἔστω

1 pl

ὦμεν

εἴημεν

2 pl

ἤτε

εἴητε

ἔστε

3 pl

ὦσι(ν)

εἴησαν

ἔστων

44 Forms of οἶδα 'I know'.

οἶδα is a perfect with present meaning. It is based on a root meaning 'see', so that the perfect
has developed in meaning from 'I have seen' to 'I know'. The forms representing present and past time
are given here.

Present

Past

1 sg

οἶδα 'I know'

ᾔδη 'I knew'

2 sg

οἶσθα 'thou knowest'

ᾔδησθα 'thou knewest'

3 sg

οἶδε(ν) 'he/she knows'

ᾔδει 'he/she knew'

1 pl

ἴσμεν 'we know'

ᾔδμεν 'we knew'

2 pl

ἴστε 'you know'

ᾔδετε 'you knew'

3 pl

ἴσασι(ν) 'they know'

ᾔδεσαν 'they knew'

45 Particles.

As you have noted in the texts, particles are numerous in Greek texts. Moreover, they are often left
untranslated. They may modify meaning much as intonation does in English; if then translated with their
meaning given in dictionaries, such as 'indeed, to be sure' and so on, the English sentence is turgid.
In combinations, such as καὶ δέ, καὶ merely adds emphasis. Particles then must be treated in
relation to one another and to the entire sentence.

There are two negative particles, also called adverbs, οὺ (οὔτε, οὐκ, etc.), and μή,
which is required in sentences expressing a desire and is used in conditions.

There are several interrogative particles, of which ἧ and ἆρα are the most frequent.
Other particles are listed here in alphabetical order.

ἀλλά 'on the other hand, but, on the contrary'ἅμα 'at the same time, at once'ἄρα 'therefore, then' (note the different accentuation from the interrogative particle)γάρ 'for'γέ 'indeed, certainly'δέ 'but, however' (often used as a connective, and need not be translated)δή 'already, now' (or used to add emphasis)ἦ 'truly, really'ἤ 'or' (often doubled with the meanings 'either ...or')καί 'and' or, as used for emphasis, 'even'μέν 'indeed' (may be used with δέ to indicate a correlation, and not translated)οὐδέ 'and not'οὖν 'indeed, certainly; therefore'οὔτε ... οὔτε, μήτε ... μήτε 'neither ... nor'πέρ 'even, indeed'τέ 'and'; τέ ... τέ 'both ... and'; τέ ... καί 'not only ... but also'